All Posts by Sabine

June Lull

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Calendula in my garden bed

Just five days until the official beginning of summer, and things have been slow in the garden. The weather has been cycling from the mid-60s to the upper 80s back to the low 60s, which has been stressing the plants, so everything seems to grow slower. Nevertheless, the plants are getting bigger, the zucchini is starting to flower, and I have my first summer flowers – self-seeding Calendula (also known as pot marigold). Those happy little flowers will bloom until the first frost.

Lettuces and kale

The lettuces have been benefiting from the cold weather. The tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and basil not so much. In fact, I lost all but one of my slicing cucumber plants. Not sure what happened there. It is going to be warm again starting in two days, with temperatures predicted to be in the mid-90s early next week. I hope the plants can tolerate those changes.

Porch Lettuce

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This morning, I harvested the last of my porch lettuce. Temperatures will be in the upper 80s today (and low 90s tomorrow), so I did not want these to bolt. I sadly did not take a picture of the lettuce container before the harvest (it was very pretty), but I immediately planted it with Thai Pepper, Thai basil and nasturtium (those came up in the pot from last year and just moved them). Looks like we are switching from spring to summer …

All Planted

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Siberian Iris in my garden plot

This morning, I (almost) finished planting my plot. Everything is now in the ground, except the sweet potatoes and okra (I will wait a few more days), and I still have to sow flowers and cilantro. I planted 5 cucamelon plants, 5 pickling cucumbers, 4 slicing cucumbers, 1 zucchini, 4 delicata squash and 3 butternut squash. I also planted two jalapenos, which were a gift. The Sweet Thai basil was planted in between the lettuce seedlings, and the Siam Thai basil along the border of my bed, next to the tomatoes. I also moved some calendulas to different spots in the plot, staked the tomatoes and secured the plants to the stakes with garden velcro. I harvested a handful of strawberries, yay! Usually the slugs, birds or pill bugs get there before I do.

All planted for now!
Pots, cells and trays for187 (now planted) seedlings – all washed and ready to go into storage until next spring. I have still 31 seedlings to plant.

2025 Garden Plot

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This morning, I planted my tomatoes (11 plants total, 8 varieties). I interplanted them with Italian basil (6 plants) and marigolds (5 plants). I also sowed nasturtium (Alaska Red Shades). I still have to plant the Thai basil, leeks, curcubites and flowers (strawflowers, gomphrena) as well as sow cilantro and flowers (borage, cosmos, zinnias, more nasturtium). I also harvested my two overwintered leeks. The rhubarb is still going strong (three harvests so far), the garlic looks great and the shallots are coming up as well.

Planting Time

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I started planting today. Finally! The water in the community garden was turned on a week ago (much later than usual), and we had a Nor’easter a few days ago with the temperatures dropping to the low forties, so I delayed planting until now. This afternoon, I weeded a quarter of my plot and planted lavender, sage (both were seedlings from Neighborhood Farm, all other plants I grew from seed) and parsley, Rainbow Swiss chard, Meadowlark kale, and five types of lettuce: Johnny’s Allstar Gourmet lettuce mix, Johnny’s Salanova green butterhead lettuce, Sandy Hill Preservation Center salad mix, Merlot (leaf) and Black Seeded Simpson (leaf). I then mulched lightly with salt marsh hay and protected the seedlings from the voracious resident rabbits with chicken wire. I plan to put in tomatoes, basil and some flowers later this week. Peppers, cucumbers and squash will go in the week thereafter.

Before fencing them in …
… and after

Back Porch in Early May

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Radishes (and arugula; to be followed by basil and parsley)
Arugula (to be followed by ? …, perhaps more lettuce)
Asparagus and sprouting cosmos (the asparagus will die down and the flowers will take over. I will plant more cosmos and zinnias and perhaps nasturtium)
Lettuces (to be followed by Thai pepper, Thai basil and nasturtium)
Seedlings, hardening off (ready to go in the ground, but I am waiting until we have water at the garden)
Arugula

Planting Shallots

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Along the Southwest Corridor Park in Jamaica Plain

Today, I planted my Monique shallots. I was hoping they would be shipped sooner as they are supposed to be planted in early spring and it is getting warmer here, but they just arrived a couple of days ago. I planted four rows of around 6 or 7 each. Fingers crossed it was not too late. This is my second attempt at growing shallots. I planted some in the fall of 2023 together with the garlic, but they did not sprout and just disappeared over the winter.

First Harvest

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Rhubarb flower – so pretty I cut them and put them in a vase

First harvest of the year! This is my new rhubarb’s third year and the plant is thriving. I cut the flowers for decoration and pulled a good number of stalks. So many more to go! I see a lot of strawberry rhubarb galettes in my near future (recipe here). After four years, I am so excited to finally grow enough rhubarb again for baking!

Ginger Update

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April 30

Today, I repotted my ginger. Some of the pieces were moldy (about a third of them), and the healthy stalks have been flopping over as they are now too tall to be supported in a seed flat. The two tallest stalks are now three and a half feet tall! I replanted the healthy pieces that had shoots or roots into a 12 inch-wide shallow plant container. I will need to keep the planter indoors for a few more weeks, at least during the night.

March 1 – The first shoots were visible on February 25
February 8 – the day I started the ginger